Aside from money, nobody was interested in saving anything green. Unfortunately, turns out climate change was a real thing, and suffice it to say, the Earth is now shot to shit. Most organic life is endangered, if not extinct. The oceans are now angry, aquatic graveyards bashing against the Sepulveda Sea Wall, the city’s only defense against the rising sea levels that drowned San Diego and many other coastal cities. A shower in unpurified water can kill you. The city is perpetually overcast in swirling mist and air so polluted that some people need masks just to breathe outdoors. Even on the few days when the city isn’t battered with bitter winds or sheets of rain and snow, you’d still need to drive two hours inland just to see the sun.
Given the toxic environment and zero sunlight, nothing organic naturally exists in the city anymore. Trees, birds, plants, even pets. All exist mostly in pictures, museums, and memory now. Sure, you can spend half a year’s pay and own a cat, though odds are she’s an animoid. And if any neighbors saw her, they’d hawk Mittens on the black market by morning. Everything you see is made of synthetic metals, fabrics, ores, and plastics. People would line up for days to see and smell a real tree, and one branch could buy a visa off-world. It only makes visiting the suites more painful, as they tout wealth with wooden furniture worth more than your pension fund.
Even food is synthetic now – proteins farmed by bioreactors and artificially formed and flavored into a facsimile of its extinct former self. Doesn’t matter if you’re dining on steak or sushi, it’s all made of the same grubs, lichen, or algae grown in vats somewhere inland in the Energy Empire. If you’re lucky. There are, fortunately, countless secrets and spices to trick your tastebuds. Much like wine, only the truly gifted or pretentious claim they can even tell a difference.
The truth paints a grim picture, but most people can adjust to any conditions with enough layers and some fire in your chest. You’d be surprised how much a shot of bourbon, some comfort food, and a neon tube in your umbrella can brighten up your day.